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When Will My Baby Know Day From Night?

Those early days can be such a blur that it’s tricky to make sense of much, but what can be so frustrating is when it comes to night time and your beautiful baby who’s slept peacefully all day, wants to have a party!



Babies are born without a circadian rhythm so they literally do not know day from night. Babies are also often much calmer/able to sleep when there is noise around them - hence how your newborn is sleeping peacefully in a noisy restaurant or whilst being walked along a busy road.

 

At night, when it’s much quieter they can find it harder to settle. I’d always recommend white noise from the offset. It shouldn’t be too close to them and it shouldn’t be louder than a running shower, but it can really help calm them by recreating the noise they heard when they were in the womb. It can also help drown out any noises you’re making around them.

 

Between nine and eleven weeks your baby’s circadian rhythm will kick in, allowing them to establish day and night. You can help them here by exposing them to daylight first thing in the morning and then again in the afternoon. If they’re still up in the evening try to keep the lights down. For any early risers try to keep them in a dark unstimulating environment until closer to your desired wake time.

 

If once they’re beyond twelve weeks old they’re still sleeping more in the day and awake at night you will need to look at their day sleep, capping naps, hitting wake windows and also establishing a strong bedtime routine to make it very clear to them that it’s now night time.


Author: Jess - The Sleepy Avocado

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